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Those that know me well – and brave enough to admit it – are well aware of my fondness for the aforementioned event.

For those just tuning in, Stagecoach is a country music festival held in the lovely barren desert city of Indio, CA which is just south of Palm Springs (the former raucous spring break getaway turned haven for those seeking Denny’s early bird Grand Slam specials in a climate that causes even the cacti to sweat).

Indio’s Empire Polo Field… pre-debauchery.

Once a year during the last weekend of every April, Indio transforms into an unimaginable country red-neck debauchery of epic proportions for three solid days (four if you count the pre-pre party day).

To put it mildly, the event is a literal orgy of alcohol, country music, alcohol, camping, BBQ, alcohol, RV parties, alcohol, 3/4 naked men & women… brought on by alcohol, and all those other fun activities you usually find in… well… an orgy.

A small gathering of 60,000 or so country bumpkins.

As I hinted at above, temperatures around the time of year the event is held can cook a Michael Moore-sized buffet in less than five minutes. Luckily, being that it’s still technically only spring, temps only rise to about 125 degrees Fahrenheit by about 8am.

An advantageous byproduct of the weather though is that it forces everyone – most importantly, women – to keep the layers at a ‘bare’ minimum. Of course, a negative consequence of that is, it forces “EVERYONE” to take part in the semi-nude fest. Alas, that’s what the beer is for.

Butt, butt, butt, butt, butt… GOOSE!

My devoted legion of five subscribers should now understand why this event is something of a mecca for Geek Outlaw.

In case you missed the title of the blog above…

Those new on the scene – whom prefer not to read the “About the Outlaw” section (and I don’t blame you) – need only look at the banner graphic above and the title itself to (hopefully) realize this blog has a western twist.

Along with the western flare, Geek Outlaw has so far been a great forum to talk about all things sci-fi, technology and half-naked women. Without a doubt, up to this year, Stagecoach has always had at least one of those things covered – as mentioned above – so it passes the BTF (blog -topic -filter).

Conversely, what truly took me by surprise was the fact that a bit of Sci-Fi magic happened to rear its geeky head during the final evening of the festival, courtesy of my personal favorite artist EVER, Mr. Brad Paisley.

Star Log 32-32 – How much do I love Mr. Paisley? Let me sing the ways…

Dubbed the “Virtual Reality Tour,” one of Brad’s popular instrumental songs called “Time Warp” was introduced via pre-recorded video by none other than the original womanizing captain of Starfleet himself, William Shatner (dressed to the nines in his Kirk uniform… at least the top half).

Not my video, so don’t shoot the Blogger

Post Kirk, Mr. Paisley and crew quickly break into a custom rendition of “Time Warp” that includes special riffs from the Star Trek and Star Wars themes. All of this is taking place while a large video board is playing an animated video (a staple at all Paisley concerts) of Brad and his band taking part as characters from the Star Wars and Trek universes in a type of Trek–Wars mash-up. (It also should be noted that Brad does all the animation himself… like a true geek should.) Despite being hard to see in the dark, I had a huge manure-eating grin on my face for the entire four minutes of the set.

I’m overjoyed to say it’s the first time I entered the realm of sci-fi country music geekdom. Add to it the fact it was an artist that I would provide my first born to in the event of a worldwide plague, and you can just imagine me standing there, paralyzed in a rare kind of happiness I only reserve for special occasions (such as the release of a new Ghostbusters figure from Mattel).

No, no, no Brad… you’ve got it all wrong… we should be doing the bowing.

I wish I would have personally been able to get a full video of it on my phone, but because it caught me so off guard (in conjunction with my cheap seats located in the next city over) I wasn’t able to record the whole thing properly. Plus, I had to be selfish and take in everything for myself in that moment.

If you choose to keep score at home, this was actually my fourth* pilgrimage to Stagecoach in as many years. (I attached an asterisk to the word fourth because technically, the last three years I’ve gone chiefly for my apparel company Active Country (which I shamelessly link to HERE and the main menu above). As a side-side note, I donate 5% of my proceeds from Active Country to Operation Gratitude, which sends care packages to our troops around the world year round.

One of the many ‘responsibilities’ I speak of…

Due to the ‘responsibilities’ of running my business all weekend taking so much out of me, unfortunately the time and energy needed to party with the over 60,000 rednecks becomes close to non-existent. Still, don’t cry for me outlaws as I was able to partake in all the festivities my very first year when I went solely as a redneck.

To say my body – specifically my liver – is still recovering from that monumental weekend three years ago is like saying that listening to Kathy Griffin for more than 30 seconds will cause your ears to bleed indefinitely.

I digress though… if you are a country music fan like myself, then you owe it to yourself to experience the nirvana that is the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at least once during your lifetime. It will be a weekend you will never forget… or you might forget.

What happens when you pour water (or beer) on rednecks?… they multiply.

One thing is for sure though, this year Brad Paisley made sure it was a geek friendly event…